Abundant Health & Wellness Start

My name is Emily Thurner, and I am the owner and founder of Abundant Health and Wellness. I’ve been practicing Nutrition Response Testing since 2014 and after several years of feeling a pull toward independence, and 2021 marking a year of back-to-back trauma, I decided that I need nothing more than to live in complete obedience to God, live in my own heart space, and follow where God is calling me. Working with people brings me great joy, and I am committed to unconditional love, grace, and compassion for all people God puts in my path. I am so humbled, grateful, thrilled, and excited to help others achieve the life changing results that I did, being healed by God, via the instrument of Nutrition Response Testing. I truly believe one’s health and wellness are priceless gifts, and I am so happy to be sharing this experience with you!

I am committed to lifelong learning! This ignites a fire in my heart that I am grateful to have. I am currently in school for my Doctorate and PhD in Natural and Integrative Medicine. This works for me because it is self-paced, self-led, and online. Being in this cohort is so fun - it is great to learn in a structured, accredited, and organized way. The journey of learning is more important to me than the degree in which it entails, and I truly want to enjoy the process. Throughout the rest of my life, I am committed to living by four paradigms. First, I will not do anything that is not within my heart space. Second, I will only do things that help fulfill my purpose in life laid out by God. Third, the decisions I make regarding my business must benefit people and help them to heal. And forth, fundamentally, the decisions I make must maintain harmony, peace, and balance in my home life.

My vision for Abundant Health and Wellness is a marriage between Nutrition Response Testing and Functional Nutrition and Wellness. I want to help people heal fully inside and out! I am pleased and grateful to announce expanded testing options provided in house or drop-shipped directly to you, including hair, saliva, and specimen analysis.

About Emily

God, my family, and my business are my everything! In that order. I am absolutely blessed to be the mother to four amazing daughters. My husband and I met in high school and began dating when I was 14 and he was 18. We were married seven years later. Nutrition Response Testing both changed and saved my life. In 2011 I had recently finished graduate school and was in a new job working as an occupational therapist in acute care. I had been married 2 years and had a 15 month old baby. In addition to working 36 hours per week, I was running 6 days per week for 4-6 miles. I could clean my house, cook, refinish furniture - whatever I pleased.

On June 6, 2011, both of my forearms flared up with tendinitis called Intersection Syndrome, and they never got better. I was in severe pain, eventually being taken off work on medical leave for over 6 months. I felt guilty about being unable to work, but I was barely functioning even at home. I was wearing bilateral forearm splints 24 hours per day. Because I was off work, I felt guilty leaving my house and began to feel very isolated.

I had feelings of depression, anxiety, and very low self-worth. No one understood what was going on with me, including my family. I was running to relieve stress and get outside. A few months later, my foot flared up and despite resting, the other one flared up soon thereafter. The pain kept getting worse and would vary from day to day. I would have a terrible day of barely functioning, and then there were days I could do a little more. This went on over the next two years; I hurt literally every day - my pain increased, fluctuated in intensity, and moved around. At any given point I was hurting in 2 to 6 locations in my body.

It truly felt like no one understood what was happening to me - I had been to many medical professionals including 3 nutritionists, 3 rheumatologists including one at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, 2 different Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation doctors including one at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, 2 general medical doctors, 4 orthopedic doctors, an acupuncturist, multiple chiropractors, as well as multiple massage therapists, occupational and physical therapists.

I was wrongfully diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis by one rheumatologist and offensively said to have “young mother’s syndrome” by a highly respected doctor in Rochester (a ridiculous accusation that young mothers get out of shape during pregnancy and can’t handle the physical demands of child rearing – insert eye roll now). I never got the answers I was seeking, and once I was officially labeled with a diagnosis of “chronic pain”, I felt even more hopeless.

In September 2014 I had a second baby and things began to crumble fast - I was in tears thinking about going back to work not just emotionally leaving my little ones, but because I was physically unable to do my job. When I did go back to work after my maternity leave, I was at the point of icing my feet in ice water for 1.5 hours per day (30 minutes, 3x per day as recommended by the doctor in Rochester). I was also so emotionally exhausted after a day of work I could barely function at home - I would just sit with my feet in my ice bucket, holding my baby, propped with pillows to support my aching body. I could no longer carry my 3-year-old or the baby’s car seat because of the pain. I was using a handicap parking sticker, and on rough days, the motorized scooter to get through Target and the grocery store. I knew that within one year, if things didn’t change, I would be in a wheelchair.

Then in November of 2014, by the grace of God, I found Nutrition Response Testing. I was immediately given answers and most importantly, hope! Using whole food and herbal supplements and dietary changes custom to me, I began to feel better slowly but surely, and over the next year my life changed dramatically.

One year later I was back to taking walks for exercise, biking with my family, and most importantly, playing with my sweet girls every day. I am filled with joy and gratitude for my health and the health of my family, who are all also on nutritional programs and have benefited immensely. Nutrition Response Testing not only saved my life, but it also gave me the strength and energy to be the mom and wife that I couldn’t before, and it has brought my family even closer together.

I was able to keep working as an occupational therapist thanks to Nutrition Response Testing, but in 2015 I felt called to pursue this as a career change. Once my soul decided, there was no stopping me. I went to many courses in Florida and began my journey as a practitioner. This was a perfect fit for me! During this time, I was able to be a momma to my two girls and even have two more – twins!

Then, 8 years later, I again began to feel my heart being pulled for change. I found myself feeling alive with new knowledge in functional nutrition and wellness and being hungry to keep learning! My heart was telling me to take a leap, and after great time in prayer and surrender to God’s will, I decided to follow the dream I didn’t even know that I had.

Taking that step in Faith has led to many more opportunities, and I am happy to say I feel totally clueless at where this will end up, but I am in full absolute trust that God’s hand is at work, and that’s enough for me.

Kindly and with love,